When Jamaica’s entertainment sector finally got the green light to reopen, dancehall came roaring back like a sound system that had been unplugged too long.
The best dancehall songs of 2022 were made for crowded lawns, packed street dances and phone screens all at once.
The year belonged to a new generation, led by a Spanish Town deejay named Skeng, who turned menace and melody into a near constant presence on YouTube.
It was also the year the trap-laced sound some started calling traphall moved from the fringes to the centre, while Popcaan and Koffee proved there was still room for uplift.
These are the 12 records that defined the year, ranked from the very top down.
1. Skeng & Tommy Lee Sparta, “Protocol” (2021)
Technically it landed on November 12, 2021, but “Protocol” truly belonged to 2022.
Released through 1stclass Musiq, which also produced it, the track paired Skeng’s cold, clipped delivery with the brooding presence of Tommy Lee Sparta, the self-styled “Gothic Dancehall” pioneer whose dark imagery was the perfect shadow for Skeng’s rising star.
When the dances reopened, the song was waiting, and the crowds made it an anthem. It finished the year as the Gleaner’s most-viewed dancehall song on YouTube with 46,329,405 views and topped YouTube’s Jamaica chart.
The pair ran it back with “Protocol Pt. 2” in October 2022, and this September a “Protocol 3” arrived on Uncle Records. Few dancehall collaborations get a trilogy.
2. Skeng feat. Nicki Minaj, “Likkle Miss (Remix)” (2022)
Skeng first dropped “Likkle Miss” in early July, and it was already moving before the Queen herself stepped in.
On August 28, Nicki Minaj announced the remix as part of her 29-track Queen Radio: Volume 1, and suddenly a Jamaican street record was in global conversation.
Produced by Drop Top Records and Di Truth Records, it gave Skeng his first US Billboard entries, debuting at No. 18 on Digital Song Sales and peaking at No. 6 on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales and No. 4 on Rap Digital Song Sales.
Minaj shouted him out at the MTV VMAs, the video neared 5.5 million views, and an all-female remix with Spice, Pamputtae, Lady Leshurr, Destra and more turned it into a full movement.
3. Skillibeng, “Whap Whap” (2022)
If Skeng owned the year, Skillibeng was right on his shoulder. “Whap Whap” landed at No. 2 on the Gleaner’s YouTube-ranked list of 2022, a remarkable showing in a year crowded with heavy hitters.
By March of that year, Skillibeng had already signed to RCA Records alongside his own Eastsyde Records imprint, a sign of how seriously the wider industry was taking the gritty, trap-influenced dancehall he helped popularise. “Whap Whap” is the sound of that bet paying off: blunt, catchy and built for repetition.
It showed that the new school’s hard-edged energy was not a passing phase but the dominant tone of a generation, one that set the template for the next few years.
4. Popcaan feat. Imeru Tafari, “Elevate” (2022)
In a year heavy with gunfire imagery, “Elevate” offered something to hold onto.
Popcaan built this melodic song around the grind of pushing through struggle, a story of determination to succeed against the odds, and he shared the stage with Imeru Tafari, son of Queen Ifrica and grandson of reggae great Derrick Morgan.
That lineage gave the track a sense of continuity, with three generations of Jamaican music in one frame. It arrived on Dan Sky Records and Attomatic Records’ Elevate Riddim, with a Glimpse Cinema video premiering on February 12.
The song went to No. 4 on the Gleaner’s list, and the riddim itself finished among the year’s top 25 on Riddim World’s ranking.
5. Jahshii, “Born Fighter” (2022)
Jahshii had a reputation, but “Born Fighter” gave fans a fuller picture of the man behind it. The Gleaner, which ranked it No. 3 for the year, said the song revealed a deeper side of the deejay and marked him as an artiste to watch.
It was one of the reasons Jahshii counted among the most-listened-to dancehall artistes of 2022, sitting alongside Skeng and Valiant in that conversation.
The title says it all: this is survival music, the kind of reflective street record that connects because it sounds lived in rather than performed.
In a year when the new generation was often judged by its bravado, “Born Fighter” made a case for vulnerability as strength.
6. Koffee, “Pull Up” (2022)
Koffee announced her debut album Gifted on February 3, 2022, with “Pull Up” as the lead single, and it set the tone for a breezy, confident project.
Produced by JAE5, the track lives at the border where dancehall meets Afrobeats, a song about stunting that floats rather than pounds.
NPR’s Patricia Meschino captured it perfectly, writing that it balances “Jamaican dancehall’s staccato rhythms with effervescent Afrobeats and jazzy sax embellishments.”
NPR named it one of the 100 best songs of 2022, the Gleaner had it at No. 7, and the KC Locke-directed video, all car stunts and swagger, matched its energy. Gifted went on to debut at No. 2 on Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart.
7. Skeng & Stalk Ashley, “Talibhan” (2022)
Skeng appears three times in this ranking, and that is simply an honest reflection of 2022. “Talibhan,” his link-up with Stalk Ashley, reached No. 1 on YouTube’s Jamaica chart and took the No. 5 spot on the Gleaner’s list.
It slotted into a staggering run that also included “Gvnman Shift,” “Who Dat,” “Life Changes,” “London” and “Likkle Miss,” which is why the Observer named him among the year’s top acts.
The pairing worked because Stalk Ashley brought her own swagger instead of playing a supporting role, giving the track a push and pull that the dances loved.
It remains one of the clearest snapshots of how completely Skeng dominated the Jamaican streaming conversation that year.
8. Valiant, “Dunce Cheque” (2022)
Released on November 2, 2022, through Musiqukrecords, “Dunce Cheque” is a lean two minutes and 36 seconds, and it caused more stir than records three times its length.
Written by Raheem Bowes, Armani Bygrave and Tarick Gordon, the track drew public concern from Information Minister Robert Morgan over its lyrical content. Valiant answered in the most dancehall way possible: he dropped the music video soon after.
The controversy only amplified a breakout year in which he was among the most-listened-to artistes in Jamaica, landing “Dunce Cheque” at No. 11 on the Gleaner’s list with “North Carolina” close behind at No. 14. It was the sound of a new star arriving with no apologies.
9. Squash, “Ambala” (2022)
Squash came early in the year with “Ambala,” released on February 8 through 6ix Real Records and Hemton Music, and it stuck around all year.
Written by Andre Whittaker, the song got a full visual on April 13 and kept climbing in the dances and on playlists, finishing at No. 9 on the Gleaner’s YouTube ranking. It also became a fixture in the DJ packs that selectors used to keep the party moving.
For Squash, “Ambala” was a high point before a quieter stretch; by 2024, the Observer was calling his “Big Breeze” a comeback hit for an artist who had been missing from the scene.
That makes “Ambala” a reminder of just how strong his 2022 run was.
10. Skeng, “London” (2022)
The fact that a solo Skeng single could sit at No. 6 on the Gleaner’s list while two of his collaborations outranked it says everything about his year.
“London” stands as one of the key pieces in the run of 2022 hits the Observer singled out when naming him a top act, and it showed he did not need a big name beside him to command attention.
The track carried the clipped, unbothered cadence that made Skeng the voice of his generation, the deejay whose phrasing fans quoted and whose releases turned into instant events on YouTube.
If “Protocol” was the anthem and “Likkle Miss” the crossover, “London” was the proof of consistency.
11. Chronic Law, “Empty” (2022)
Chronic Law has long been one of dancehall’s most distinctive voices, and 2022 kept him firmly in the mix.
“Empty” climbed to No. 8 on the Gleaner’s YouTube ranking, and his “Corrupt” also made the list at No. 15, making him one of only a handful of artistes with two entries.
The man fans call Law Boss built his following on brooding, introspective street music, and “Empty” fits that lane, the kind of song that sounds as good alone with headphones as it does through a sound system at midnight.
His standing only grew afterward, with a feature on Popcaan’s 2023 album Great Is He confirming his place among the genre’s most respected names.
12. Laa Lee, “Bird” (2021)
Like “Protocol,” Laa Lee’s “Bird” was released at the end of 2021 and then truly took flight once the dances returned.
The Gleaner made the point directly: both songs reached their full potential in 2022 after the entertainment sector got the green light to reopen. That timing matters.
Dancehall hits have always been confirmed on the ground, in the session and the street dance, and for months there was no ground to stand on.
When the crowds came back, “Bird” was one of the songs they reached for, earning it a place at No. 16 on the year’s list. It is a fitting closer, a song whose story is the story of 2022 itself.
Why 2022 Still Matters
Looking back from 2026, 2022 feels like a turning point. The reopening gave dancehall its natural habitat back, and a new generation walked straight into it.
Skeng, Valiant, Jahshii and Skillibeng did not ask permission; they built audiences on YouTube and in the streets, then forced the wider world, from Nicki Minaj to RCA Records, to pay attention.
The traphall sound went from novelty to norm, and even ministers were weighing in on the lyrics.
Yet the year was not one-note. Popcaan and Imeru Tafari offered hope on “Elevate,” and Koffee carried Jamaican rhythm into Afrobeats territory with ease.
That range, from darkness to light, is what makes this batch of songs worth revisiting. With “Protocol 3” arriving this year, the echoes of 2022 are clearly still ringing.
